1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a recording/playing apparatus and contents managing method, and more particularly relates to a recording/playing apparatus and contents managing method which can provide users with sufficient opportunity to view or listen to contents, and which can automatically delete only contents which are truly unnecessary to the users, i.e., which can accurately reflect the intents of users and manages contents accordingly.
2. Description of the Related Art
With conventional recording/playing apparatuses, users managing recorded program (contents) data have had to select themselves unnecessary data, and delete the data.
Also, increased capacity of recording media such as hard disks has meant that great amounts of contents can be stored.
Consequently, in the event that the user can no longer grasp what is in the great amounts of contents stored, the user can no longer readily select unnecessary contents, so operation necessary for deleting unnecessary contents becomes extremely troublesome for the user. Further, cases can be anticipated wherein the user has recorded contents which he/she is interested in, but these contents become buried in the great amount of stored contents and remain unviewed or not listened to, and eventually are erroneously deleted without being viewed or listened to.
There are techniques for solving the troublesome contents deletion operation by automatically deleting the accumulated contents. With the technique for automatically deleting accumulated contents, contents which have remained a predetermined number of days following storing without being viewed or listened to are automatically deleted.
However, with the arrangement of the conventional technique for automatically deleting contents, the user is not given sufficient opportunity to view or listen to the stored contents, so there may be cases wherein the user records contents he/she is interested in but does not notice the recorded contents and loses the opportunity to view or listen to the stored contents, which may result in contents which the user is interested in being automatically deleted.
The present invention has been made in light of such problems, and accordingly, it is an object thereof to provide a recording/playing apparatus and contents managing method which can provide users with sufficient opportunity to view or listen to contents, and which can automatically delete only contents which are truly unnecessary to the users, i.e., a recording/playing apparatus and contents managing method which can accurately reflect the intents of users and manages contents accordingly.
The recording/playing apparatus according to the present invention comprises: obtaining means for obtaining contents; recording control means for controlling recording of a plurality of the contents obtained by the obtaining means; generating means for generating management information, including the status of the plurality of contents of which recording is controlled by the recording control means, and the number of times of opportunities for viewing or listening to the contents that has been provided to the contents, and for changing the management information as necessary; first extracting means for extracting, from the plurality of contents of which recording is controlled by the recording control means, the contents to which a predetermined number of times of opportunities for viewing or listening has already been provided but viewing or listening thereof has not been carried out yet, based on the management information generated by the generating means; judging means for judging whether or not there are any contents in the plurality of contents of which recording is controlled by the recording control means regarding which deleting is necessary; and deletion control means for controlling deleting of the contents regarding which the status of the contents contained in the management information is xe2x80x9cdeletion plannedxe2x80x9d, in the event that judgment is made by the judging means that deleting of the contents is necessary; wherein the generating means changes the status of the contents contained in the management information corresponding to the contents extracted by the first extracting means, to xe2x80x9cdeletion plannedxe2x80x9d.
The recording/playing apparatus according to the present invention may further comprise second extracting means for extracting, from the contents of which recording is controlled by the recording control means, the contents regarding which viewing or listening thereof has been completed and also regarding which the date-and-time when last viewed or listened to is the oldest, based on the management information generated by the generating means; wherein the management information may further contain information relating to the date-and-time when last viewed or listened to, in the event that viewing or listening thereof has been completed regarding the contents; and wherein, in the event that, following control of deletion of the contents regarding which the status contained in the management information is xe2x80x9cdeletion plannedxe2x80x9d by the deletion control means, judgment is made by the judging means that deletion of the contents is necessary, the second extracting means may extract the contents regarding which viewing or listening thereof has been completed and regarding which the date-and-time when last viewed or listened to is the oldest; and wherein the generating means may change the status of the contents contained in the management information corresponding to the contents extracted by the second extracting means, to xe2x80x9cdeletion plannedxe2x80x9d.
The contents managing method according to the present invention comprises: an obtaining step for obtaining contents; a recording control step for controlling recording of a plurality of the contents obtained by the processing in the obtaining step; a generating step for generating management information, including the status of the plurality of contents of which recording is controlled by the processing in the recording control step, and the number of times of opportunities for viewing or listening to the contents that has been provided to the contents, and for changing the management information as necessary; a first extracting step for extracting, from the plurality of contents of which recording is controlled by the processing in the recording control step, the contents to which a predetermined number of times of opportunities for viewing or listening has already been provided but viewing or listening thereof has not been carried out yet, based on the management information generated by the processing in the generating step; a judging step for judging whether or not there are any contents in the plurality of contents of which recording is controlled by the processing in the recording control step regarding which deleting is necessary; and a deletion control step for controlling deleting of the contents regarding which the status of the contents contained in the management information is xe2x80x9cdeletion plannedxe2x80x9d, in the event that judgment is made by the processing in the judging step that deleting of the contents is necessary; wherein the processing the generating step changes the status of the contents contained in the management information corresponding to the contents extracted by the processing in the first extracting step, to xe2x80x9cdeletion plannedxe2x80x9d.
The contents managing method according to the present invention may further comprise a second extracting step for extracting, from the contents of which recording is controlled by the processing in the recording control step, the contents regarding which viewing or listening thereof has been completed and also regarding which the date-and-time when last viewed or listened to is the oldest, based on the management information generated by the processing in the generating step; wherein the management information may further contain information relating to the date-and-time when last viewed or listened to, in the event that viewing or listening thereof has been completed regarding the status of the contents; and wherein, in the event that, following control of deletion of the contents regarding which the status of contents contained in the management information is xe2x80x9cdeletion plannedxe2x80x9d by the processing in the deletion control step, judgment is made by the processing in the judging step that deletion of the contents is necessary, the processing in the second extracting step may extract the contents regarding which viewing or listening thereof has been completed and regarding which the date-and-time when last viewed or listened to is the oldest; and wherein the processing in the generating step may change the status of the contents contained in the management information corresponding to the contents extracted by the processing in the second extracting step, to xe2x80x9cdeletion plannedxe2x80x9d.
With the recording/playing apparatus and contents managing method, contents are obtained; recording of the plurality of contents obtained is controlled; management information is generated, including the status of the plurality of contents of which recording is controlled, and the number of times of opportunities for viewing or listening to the contents that has been provided to the contents; the management information is changed as necessary; the contents to which a predetermined number of times of opportunities for viewing or listening has already been provided but viewing or listening thereof has not been carried out yet are extracted from the plurality of contents of which recording is controlled, based on the management information generated; the status of the contents contained in the management information corresponding to the extracted contents is changed to xe2x80x9cdeletion plannedxe2x80x9d; judgment is made whether or not there are any contents in the plurality of contents of which recording is controlled regarding which deleting is necessary; and deleting of the contents regarding which the status of the contents contained in the management information is xe2x80x9cdeletion plannedxe2x80x9d is controlled, in the event that judgment is made that deleting of the contents is necessary.